Huayu: Starting with mentoring female stars

Chapter 17 Filming wrapped

Chen Zhou helped with the scene rehearsal: "The actor opens his eyes, realizes he is not dead, and sees the painting left by Hu Guangsheng."

Liu Yifei slowly opened her eyes, puzzled as to why she hadn't died.

When she saw the painting in the room, a faint smile appeared on her face, a smile that held a sense of redemption...

She focused her performance on micro-expressions on her face and subtle tension in her body.

Without any deliberate attempt to evoke emotion, the film allows the viewer to feel the turbulent emotions within the character of Ma Jiaqi in a quiet atmosphere.

This kind of performance, which "sounds like thunder in silence," makes people believe that the character's pain, tenderness, and redemption are real.

"Click!"

"Passed!"

Chen Zhou shouted.

Liu Yifei stepped out of her wheelchair and immediately ran to Chen Zhou, asking expectantly, "Director Chen, how was my performance?"

"Very good, excellent!" Chen Zhou praised highly.

"That's good." At this point, Liu Yifei breathed a sigh of relief, and the weight that had been pressing on her heart finally lifted.

Throughout the entire filming process, she is the person who has received the most guidance from Chen Zhou.

For many nights, Chen Zhou would give her one-on-one private lessons.

So no matter what, she wouldn't allow herself to let Chen Zhou down.

"Girl, you acted very well. No wonder you were chosen by Director Chen," Chen Minghao said.

"Thank you for the compliment, Teacher Chen," Liu Yifei said with a smile.

"Senior sister, you are the best leading lady," Zhu Yilong praised.

"No, no, please don't flatter me." Liu Yifei was a little embarrassed by the compliment.

At this moment, Chen Zhou picked up the megaphone next to him and shouted to everyone on set, "The Nameless Heroes has wrapped filming!"

"Clap clap clap!"

The others present applauded, but the applause was also for themselves.

As evening fell, Chen Zhou booked two adjacent food stalls, and he, as the director, would pay for everything that would happen that night.

Chen Zhou, Liu Yifei, Zhu Yilong, and others sat together around a table.

Chen Minghao poured a large glass of beer and said to Chen Zhou:

"Director Chen, tell the truth."

"Of all the directors I've worked with so far, you're the one I admire the most."

"Because you are so versatile. You can write scripts, direct, instruct actors on set, and handle any issues that may arise with the entire crew."

"I have nothing else to say to praise you, just two words: awesome! Absolutely awesome!"

"Come on, let's have a drink!"

Chen Zhou readily agreed, filling a large glass with beer and drinking heartily with Chen Minghao.

"Director Chen, I'd like to toast you too." Zhu Yilong and Zhu Yilong toasted together.

Liu Yifei, who usually doesn't drink alcohol, took a small sip of beer out of curiosity and found it very bitter.

I simply can't understand why Chen Zhou and the others were able to drink so much.

Because she was happy, Liu Yifei raised her glass, wanting to toast Chen Zhou first.

But at this moment, her mother stopped her directly: "Xixi, you are too young to drink so much. I know what you're thinking. Let me do it for you."

Then, to Liu Yifei's utter astonishment, she actually saw her mother pour herself a beer and say to Chen Zhou:

"Director Chen, I've noticed how well you've taken care of Xixi over this period of time."

"I can clearly see that her performance level has indeed improved a lot under your guidance."

"This is something no other director could do at all. For that reason alone, I should thank you."

"Let's bump into each other."

Compared to before, Liu Xiaoli was now filled with arrogance and wariness towards Chen Zhou.

At this time, Liu Xiaoli was not as arrogant as before, and was much more approachable overall.

Of course, she was still wary of such things, after all, Liu Yifei was indeed her only precious daughter.

"Come on!" Chen Zhou clinked glasses with Liu Xiaoli, each holding a full glass.

Seeing that her mother's opinion of Chen Zhou had changed, Liu Yifei felt indescribably happy.

Tonight, everyone is having a great time drinking and eating.

After tonight, the film crew will be disbanding.

But Chen Zhou also told everyone that if he ever had his own film and television production company, he would definitely recruit everyone together so that they could continue working together.

The staff in various departments already held Chen Zhou in the utmost respect.

So they all naturally agreed.

In any case, as long as Chen Zhou says the word, they are willing to go and work for him.

Amidst the lively atmosphere, Chen Zhou also sang a song on stage, immediately opening with "Just Love You".

Liu Yifei didn't hesitate either, and started drinking with Chen Zhou.

"It's just loving you, loving you, through joy and sorrow, even the mundane moments are meaningful with you..."

The wrap party didn't end until after 11 p.m.

The following day, Chen Zhou took a plane back to Kyoto.

He didn't sit idle; he immediately rented a server room.

He also found some editors to edit the videos of unknown people with him.

He plans to release The Unknown during this year's Lunar New Year holiday season.

As time passed day by day, by October 30th, the editing of "The Unknown" was completed.

Then, Chen Zhou sent the finished film directly to the review department.

For a film to be shown in the country, it must obtain a broadcasting license, also known as a "dragon mark".

If we can't get this, all our efforts will be in vain.

However, the subject matter of "The Unknown" falls into a relatively safe category, so there's nothing to worry about.

November 28th arrived quickly.

Chen Zhou received news that the unknown person had successfully obtained the dragon seal!

The next thing to do is find a distributor, and then we can arrange the release.

As for the distributor, Chen Zhou didn't need to find one himself. His film was invested in by Liu Dehua, who had a very good relationship with the distributor.

Therefore, Chen Zhou let them handle it.

Within two days, the distributor quickly finalized the deal, which involved cooperating with China Film Group.

With everything in place, The Nameless has finally been scheduled for release during the Lunar New Year holiday season.

It will be released on Saturday, December 29th!

Otherwise, if we wait any longer, we'll have to wait until the Spring Festival.

Although the Spring Festival film season will be the most popular period of the year in the future, it is still very immature at present.

The most direct reason is that there are relatively few cinema screens nationwide, and they are mainly concentrated in first-tier cities.

During the Spring Festival, people in first-tier cities return to their hometowns in large numbers, which leads to a significant decrease in the number of moviegoers.

Not to mention, the festive atmosphere of the New Year is still quite strong these days. When the New Year arrives, people still prefer to visit each other's homes and alleys. Who has the mind to spend money to go to the movies?

In other words, once the New Year's atmosphere fades and people no longer want to visit relatives and friends, they'll instead choose to spend their time in the movie theater.

Of course, because the Lunar New Year film season is quite popular, some big-budget films will also be released one after another.

For Chen Zhou, an unknown artist, to carve out a path in these works is undoubtedly very difficult.

But there's a saying that goes something like that.

The bigger the waves, the more expensive the fish!

If an unknown person can stand out from these works.

Then the phrase "nameless person" truly captures the essence of the topic!

What needs to be done right now is to promote the film.

On the afternoon of December 7th, Chen Zhou led the main creative team of the film crew of "The Nameless".

The movie's release date announcement was held at a hotel in Kyoto!